


trap

by sinfulchihuahua0602



Series: whump advent 2020 [2]
Category: DreamWorks Dragons (Cartoon), How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Branding, Burns, Gen, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III Whump, Hurt/Comfort, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-07
Updated: 2020-12-07
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:35:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27926854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sinfulchihuahua0602/pseuds/sinfulchihuahua0602
Summary: Hiccup walks into a trap; a Singetail blast doesn't miss.
Series: whump advent 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2041774
Comments: 3
Kudos: 37





	trap

**Author's Note:**

> day 4-6: _burns / branding / afraid of fire_
> 
> apparently, i am also a Wordy Bitch in these prompts ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

Hiccup really should’ve known that this was a trap. It’s  _ Viggo,  _ for Thor’s sake, and the invitation had seemed sketchy already, too good to be true. 

But, he was hopeful and optimistic, and now he’s surrounded by Hunters, at least two dozen crossbows aimed at him, and Viggo standing in the very middle, smirking. Toothless growls, eyes darting around at all the Hunters. They can’t take off without being shot at. Those arrows are definitely tipped with dragonroot, and Hiccup isn’t going to underestimate the Hunters’ accuracy with so many aimed at him and such a high chance of losing even worse than he already is. 

He presses his hand to Toothless’s scales in quiet reassurance. He keeps his eyes on Viggo, only glancing around at the Hunters for emphasis. “You know, I’m flattered that you think you need so many Hunters to capture me, Viggo,” he says sarcastically. 

Viggo’s smirk fades. Hiccup’s own mouth tilts a little at his momentary victory. “You’re hard to capture, my dear Hiccup,” Viggo replies, a hint of a frustrated growl to his tone, and then it smooths into a smile as he walks forward. “But you’re not going to escape now. There are two dozen of my men aiming crossbows at you now, more waiting on ships all around this island, and still more in the forest. To add to that,” he looks up, “Krogan’s Flyers are arriving just now.”

Hiccup follows his gaze, biting back a groan when he sees the red and orange colors of the Singetails block out the blue sky. They hover above in a tight circle surrounding the place Hiccup and Toothless stand, and more fly a little lower, in a wider circle. 

He looks back down at Viggo, who’s smirking - he’s well and truly trapped.  _ Any day now, Astrid,  _ he thinks in agitation, his hands fidgeting on Toothless’s scales. Toothless is fidgeting in his own way as well, tail flicking in short fits and shifting on his feet, growling and glancing around still. 

“Come now, Hiccup. I’m sure you want your dragon to remain conscious and unharmed, don’t you?”

Hiccup stares at him, glancing up at the Flyers hovering above. There’s no other shapes in the dark sky, no one coming for him, and he reluctantly slides off of Toothless’s back after a few long moments, turning and facing Viggo. 

Toothless whines between his growls, tail lashing agitatedly, glancing at Hiccup. Hiccup turns to him, putting a hand on his scales. “It’s okay, Toothless,” he says, even as he  _ feels  _ Viggo’s eyes burning into his back. “I’ll be fine. You can’t fight them, either. You have to-“ he swallows, thinking of the advances Viggo has made on Hiccup. Nothing serious, except for… that one time, but- he’s never felt so trapped before. His friends will be outnumbered just by attacking the men surrounding him now; there’s no way they will be able to get him out once he’s on the ships, in the middle of the doubled fleet. Tears prick at the corner of his eyes, mind going to the darkest things that Viggo could do to him, what he  _ has  _ done to him already. He forcefully shoves them down - he’s escaped before, he can escape again. “You have to follow what they say.”

Toothless growls and Hiccup rests his head against his scales. “I know. I know,” he repeats, suddenly finding that deep dark void inside him opening up when he fight against the Hunters seems truly hopeless, when his optimism runs out. It only ever happens on the Edge in his alone time, when he allows himself to think about how long this war has been going on and how sometimes Hiccup fears it will never end, or that the Hunters will win. 

He can’t get frustrated now, though, can’t panic or cry or give up. Optimism, always. For now, at least. He will win, he will escape, he’s not going to give up. He has to believe that, and when he’s alone,  _ only  _ when he’s alone, can he think about the scope of the war. 

He lifts his head from Toothless and turns around, meeting Viggo’s eyes with defiance flaring in his own despite his capture. Viggo smirks and produces a coil of rope from his belt. “Turn around, my dear,” he purrs. 

Hiccup turns around slowly and looks up at the sky. It’s blue sky and clouds and Singetails, and he studies it as Viggo takes Hiccup’s wrists and starts tying rope around them. The clouds break, revealing more blue sky and-

Shapes. Dark shapes, flying towards him, shapes that he would know anywhere. 

Hiccup smiles, turning his hands to catch Viggo’s, stopping his progress with the rope as Stormfly’s first blast lands in the middle of the Hunters and screams echo around it. He twists hard, pulling Viggo with him and making him stumble to the side, giving Hiccup precious few seconds to wriggle his hands out of the unfinished knot and draw his sword, igniting it to meet Viggo’s aggressive step forward. Toothless growls behind him, and the ranks of the Hunters and Flyers are scattered by his friends raining fire on them. 

Viggo smiles and draws his own sword. “I’ve never had the pleasure of swordfighting with you, my dear Hiccup,” he says. “Let’s see if you’re as good on your own as you are with a dragon.”

Viggo strikes first; Hiccup meets his blade, pushing back and twisting so both swords slide off of the other with no damage done. Hiccup swings with the momentum; Viggo catches the swing easily, using only one hand on his sword. 

Hiccup’s jaw tightens. They dance like that for interminable minutes, meeting blow after blow. Both Viggo and Hiccup are calm, controlled, both lethally good swordfighters. Viggo is faster than Hiccup thought he would be, and Hiccup has more stamina than Viggo thought he did. They’re nearly equally matched. 

Hiccup lunges for Viggo’s stomach; Viggo blocks, pushing up so Hiccup leans back. Something hisses and crackles nearby,  _ too close _ , he thinks suddenly, and Hiccup jumps back as a Singetail blast lands right where he’d been standing seconds earlier. 

The heat warms his skin, almost burning him. Hiccup exhales shakily, adrenaline shooting through him at how close he’d been to dying. Just a few seconds, a slightly slower movement…

He shoves the thought from his mind as the smoke clears to reveal Viggo in a crouch, clearly affected by the fire by the way he groans a little and pushes himself up. Hiccup is already running at him, a strange flood of hot anger coursing through him, fueling his movements, sword raised to kill as he runs. This man had hurt his friends, had hurt  _ him _ , had been planning on doing unspeakable things to him. He couldn’t just let him  _ live,  _ a dark voice said, and Hiccup couldn’t find it in himself to stop it. 

_ “Hiccup!” _

He barely registers Astrid’s panicked yell before red flashes in front of his vision, followed by the shriek of Toothless’s blast. The Singetail fire and Toothless’s plasma blast collide in front of Hiccup, steps away from Viggo and mere breaths away from himself; red-orange and violet flash in his vision, and then the world is searing white and he’s burning, he’s flying, his ears are ringing and he’s on  _ fire- _

The searing white fades from his vision, the ringing subsides just a little to let in the screams and yells and metal clangs of battle. He sees trees, sees green and darting shapes between, he’s still burning. His back hits something hard, and then his head hits something harder, and Hiccup’s world goes entirely dark. 

-0-0-0-

Astrid watches the scene with a sort of horror that makes it go in slow motion. She sees Hiccup leap back from the Singetail blast, sees Viggo yell and fall to the ground, rolling a little away before going into a crouch, and then Hiccup’s up and running at Viggo as the smoke clears, sword raised above his head. 

Movement flashes in the corner of her eyes - she looks up, sees a Flyer aiming for Hiccup. The vents on the Singetail’s stomach open up; Astrid and Toothless process it at the same time, both turning from their respective battles to look up at the Flyer. 

Astrid screams Hiccup’s name; Toothless whirls and fires a plasma blast to collide with the Singetail’s three fires as they land directly in front of Hiccup. He’s steps away from walking directly into the fire, and as it is, the plasma and fire blasts burst in an explosion of white-hot flame in front of him. 

She hears Hiccup scream, sees him go flying suddenly and sees flashes of skin where his armor is burnt through in some places as he tumbles through the air. Viggo is thrown back as well, though he’s a few more steps further away from the blast and he doesn’t get quite as injured. 

She couldn’t care less about him, however, and she barely blocks an attack from a Hunter for looking at Hiccup’s predicament. Toothless roars and runs over to him, curling his body to stand over Hiccup and growl at the Hunters that close in on him, surrounding him in a semi-circle against the tree Hiccup hit. 

Astrid brutally dispatches the Hunter attacking her and runs to the ones closing in on Toothless with a savage cry, channeling all her anger and frustration into slicing them to pieces. She makes it through in mere minutes, sheathing her axe quickly and picking Hiccup up. Toothless whines in concern and nudges at him, looking up at Astrid. 

She scans Hiccup’s body; there are a lot of places where his armor is burnt through, on his arms and his right shoulder, curling around his hip and chest. She holds him carefully with the injuries. “I know, Toothless. We have to get out of here.”

She looks back out at the battle - Stormfly is shooting spines at Hunters advancing on her; Snotlout and Hookfang, the twins and their Zippleback are engaged in a losing battle with the Flyers. Fishlegs and Meatlug are barreling through Hunters on the ground, though Meatlug is getting shot at and she’s doing more evading than actual hitting. 

She drapes Hiccup over Toothless’s back and climbs on, sticking her foot against the prosthetic tailfin lever, one hand holding Hiccup against her chest and the other holding onto the saddle. Hiccup had taught her the basic maneuvers for Toothless’s prosthetic tailfin, and she hopes that she practiced enough to get it right. There isn’t room for error here; it could mean her, or worse,  _ Hiccup’s _ , life. 

“Retreat!” she yells. Toothless takes off, flying low and firing at the Hunters shooting at Meatlug so she and Fishlegs can fly away. Astrid whistles for Stormfly, who flies up to her with a squawk, following her and then Toothless’s lead as they blast the other Riders out of their battles. 

Finally, they’re all flying in the safety of the cloud cover, Toothless gliding smoothly in front of the other Riders. Astrid calms down from the adrenaline rush, concern taking over, and she decides she’s safe enough to loosen her arm around Hiccup, letting go of the saddle and holding him horizontally draped over it so she can see his injuries properly. 

Snotlout and Fishlegs glide up next to Toothless. Fishlegs glances over, making a high, scared noise when he sees Hiccup. Snotlout frowns. “Geez, Astrid, what  _ happened?” _

Astrid starts peeling off pieces of his armor and putting it in his saddlebags. The less his clothes chafe against his burns, the better, and she hopes the cold air up high will soothe them at least a little bit. “He got hit by a series of Singetail blasts,” she replies. Snotlout winces. 

“How close  _ was  _ he to the fire?”

Astrid sighs as she carefully pulls his shirt off, revealing the extent of the burns. “Nearly walked into it.”

Snotlout whistles in sympathy, and even the twins are quiet behind her. She looks back at them; they look up at her, sadness in their eyes that quickly gives way to anger. “I’m going to kill Viggo,” Ruffnut says darkly. 

“And Krogan,” Tuffnut adds. Astrid half expects some inane reason why -  _ can’t forget him, he’s the most evil of them all  _ \- that makes a little light of the situation, most likely bound to annoy her, but Tuffnut doesn’t continue. It’s disquieting, scaring Astrid a little, and she looks at Snotlout; he’s watching Hiccup, not making any joke or stupid comment, but instead has his brows lowered in concern and sadness, with a too-tight grip on Hookfang’s horns. She looks at Fishlegs, finding that same dark look in his eyes.

She looks back at Hiccup, at the severe burns littering his skin, and finds that she feels the same way. They’re all devoted to each other, no matter the jokes they make, but Hiccup is oddly something different. He’s their  _ leader,  _ the person they look up to as well as tease and joke with, fearless and creative and imaginative. Seeing him hurt awakens a protective feeling that’s like a raging fire inside of them. Astrid would gladly kill Viggo if it meant getting vengeance on him for hurting Hiccup. 

She shoves the feeling and thoughts away and starts cataloguing his injuries, planning for when they get back to the Edge. Most of his burns are on his chest, since it was closest to the blasts, but there’s a few that curl around his body. One large patch covers the lower half of his right side, around his stomach and fading out just before it curves to his back; there’s several patches on his arms, both above and below the elbow, including one on the inside of his wrist and reaching up to the side of his palm. That one’s less severe, though, compared to the others. 

Then there’s one on his collarbone, curving slightly around his left breast, and the top disappears over his shoulder. Astrid carefully pulls him up against her without touching his chest to her armor, looking over his shoulder and at his back to see the extent of the burn. 

It fades quickly once it starts on his back, barely making it past his neck, but there’s something else beneath it. A small, raised pink scar in the shape of a circle with some kind of design between it, and Astrid adjusts his position until she can see it better. 

“Oh my gods,” she breathes. It’s a  _ brand.  _ A Hunter brand, by the raised fist in the center of the circle. And there’s- she makes a mental note to give Viggo a slow, painful death- there’s a small, neat “V” branded beneath it. 

She traces her fingers over the brand. It’s healed completely, only raised pink skin by now, and Astrid wonders how long Hiccup’s had this. She wonders when Viggo did it, where  _ they  _ were, how he got Hiccup long enough to do it. 

Why Hiccup hid it from them. 

She lays Hiccup back down, one hand beneath his back and her fingers lightly tracing the brand. Anger and confusion simmer as they ride back to the Edge, and she stays quiet. 

As soon as they get back, Astrid takes Hiccup to Fishlegs’ hut for healing. He’s still unconscious, though Fishlegs thinks he should be waking soon, and Astrid waits, leaving him in the care of Fishlegs with his burn salves and bandages. 

Finally, he does stir, groaning and opening his eyes. Astrid looks up from her place sitting on a chair, concern and annoyance battling for dominance. “Hiccup?”

He raises his hand a little. “Yep, I’m here,” he says, and then groans. “Mostly.”

She stands up, walking to the side of his bed. “You got indirectly hit by three Singetail blasts,” she explains as his eyes flick to her. He closes his eyes, face twisting in pain. 

“Gods, it  _ stings,”  _ he says, arching a little off of the blankets. She frowns, letting him take her hand and ignoring the pain as he squeezes it in discomfort before letting go and opening his eyes again. 

“Fishlegs said you have to stay here and rest. No more attacks, no walking around and moving for a while. At least for today and maybe tomorrow. I don’t know about the rest.”

Hiccup sighs and winces. “Great,” he says sarcastically. 

Astrid pauses, hesitating. “Hiccup…” she starts slowly, and sees his gaze flick to her, frowning a little in concern. 

“What is it?”

She looks down. “I- well, I was looking at your burns when we were flying and… how long have you had Viggo’s brand?”

Hiccup sighs and turns his head to face the ceiling again. “A couple months,” he says quietly. “He did it when I was captured in that raid near Deathsong Island. I was…” he pauses, and she can see him swallow, “I was going to have Dagur burn it off of me when he next visited.”

Astrid can’t stop the gasp that leaves her, mouth open and eyes wide. “Hiccup! You really want it gone that badly? And you weren’t even going to tell us?!”

Hiccup’s eyes flick to her sharply. “Think of what a brand means, Astrid! If anyone knew, I would be giving up my chiefdom, my inheritance. And- no, I’m not exactly  _ thrilled  _ to become chief, but I’d belong to the Dragon Hunters! I’d belong to Viggo.”

She goes quiet at that, meeting Hiccup’s gaze until he looks away. She slowly takes his hand, holding it until he responds with a light squeeze and turns his head back towards her. “I- I understand. Sorry. I didn’t think of the consequences, just- you didn’t  _ tell  _ us. We would’ve helped, Hiccup.”

Hiccup sighs. “I… I was a little afraid that you all would accept the brand’s meaning and follow it through. It’s pretty deep tradition and law, after all.”

Astrid grins. “Coming from the man whose main skill is breaking traditions and laws.”

Hiccup rolls his eyes, mouth twitching into a smile. “Toothless was entirely an accident. And, if you’ll recall, happened because I was  _ following  _ tradition.”

Astrid squeezes his hand again, shoving down the uneasiness she feels at his decision to get the brand off and continuing. “But really - when Dagur next visits, he can burn the brand off if he agrees. But we’ll be right there beside you, comforting you like we should’ve been in the first place. Alright?”

Hiccup smiles. “Alright. Thank you, Astrid.”

She smirks. “Don’t be so reckless anymore. Try thinking logically for once.”

Hiccup’s mouth opens in mock-offense, glaring at her without any real heat. “Excuse  _ you _ , I designed an entire prosthetic tailfin for a dragon no one had ever seen before, on my own, hiding from an axe-happy village of Vikings!”

Astrid grins. “Thinking logically and being creative aren’t the same thing, Hiccup,” she shoots back teasingly. 

He groans. “You’re a terrible person, insulting a burned man. I’m in pain, you know!”

She shrugs. “You’ll survive,” she says nonchalantly. 

Hiccup rolls his eyes. “Says the woman who’s not burned and not being insulted,” he replies petulantly. Astrid pinches him and he yelps, green eyes flicking over to her.

  
“Now you’re burned, insulted,  _ and  _ pinched, and you’re still alive,” she says, smirking, and laughs when he groans again.


End file.
